Promotion 0f Independence and Dignity of Retirement

Published by Sons In Retirement, Inc. Ignacio Pacheco Branch 22 Vol 48 No 3 March 2019

Reminder IF YOU HAVE NOT PAID YOUR 2019 Branch 22 dues, they are due and

payable NOW. Please mail me or bring a check for

$36.00To February’s meeting

BILL WILHELM

Big SIR MIKE DEAN415-515-7816

Little SIR Floyd Heckman415-388-2295

Secretary Bud Pflueger415-383-3763Asst. Secretary

Jim Filippo RG/PBS/JFA415-892-2063

Treasurer Dave ThorntonPBS/JFA

415-271-0508Asst. Treasurer

Steve Miller PBS415-381-8255

DIRECTORSJim Filippo RG/PBS/JFA

415-892-2063 Walt Torrens PBS/JFA

415-435-3167Bill Wilhelm PBS/JFA

415-786-6150Chuck Krogh PBS

510-847-4646

http://branch22.sirinc2.org/

MENU Corned Beef, boiled red potatoes

and cabbageAlternative: Grilled Salmon

La Presentar

BIG SIR MESSAGE

I am finally back from my travels and the terrible flu that followed. I will be in attendance at the March meeting – just in case you noticed I was gone in January and February. A big thank you Little SIR Floyd Heckman and those board members who supported him in my absence.

Upon my return I was very distressed to learn of the passing of our beloved Merrill Mazza and the loss of our friend Nicholas Dollwet. With the loss of Merrill, I may never again get a birthday wish equal to those which we always enjoyed from that joyous man.

The numbers of members who lost their lives this past year has naturally affected our overall number of Branch 22 members, but we’ve gained a couple too. We have a fairly hearty number of members who are committed to SIR and we all need to make sure that we and our friends are getting everything we want and expect out of our participation.

I have had a chance to review some of the other branch events and activities recently and I must say I am very impressed with the range and number of speakers, events, luncheons, games and sports interests offered by others – like hiking/walking, bocce, golf, tennis bowling and activities like book clubs, art classes and the like. Branch 22 offers some of these and could do more if there was sufficient interest and participation. If you have a specific interest or improvement you would like promoted – get a consensus from your friends and let us know. Just discuss it among your table mates at the luncheons. Meanwhile we will continue with our traditional events and hope you will join us. This includes more lunches and/or dinners at interesting places-some of which will have a limit on the attendees of course. Remember too, your level of expertise in the sports needs not affect your participation – must of us suck and we would love to have others who may sink to our level.

Meanwhile, we want more members. The existing members are the best resource for new members and it is up to us to invite our new and old friends to join us – their wives would be so appreciative to get their husbands out of the house.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you all from a person that truly excels at the activities involved in that event!

Big SIRMike Dean

Big Sir Message

NO REPORT

LITTLE SIR FLOYD HECKMAN

Little Sir Message

  We started off the month of February by singing at Deer Park Ret. Center in Novato.  They have a new activities director there, which is the norm at these places as none seem to last long, although he seems to be good at his job. Only time will tell. On the 8th we sang at Creekside where the director loves us and wanted us to return and sing the following week. On the 15th we will sing at Bello Gardens in San Anselmo.  Bello Gardens is a relatively small building, and way over crowded, it recently had an addition added, but still remains a very small over crowded building. We close the month of February by singing at Sunrise Retirement in Terra Linda.  We always get a packed house when we sing there.

Mike Scafani, ChairmanJerry Hayden, Asst. Chairman

SIRndader’s

Information Page

MARCH BIRTHDAY’S

03 IP-124 BOB STEINER 03 IP-077 TOM ATKIN 05 IP-086 BILL REID 05 IP-129 GORDON CIVETZ 08 IP-088 RICHARD JOHNSON 16 IP-101 OTTO PFLUEGER 19 IP-018 DICK CAMPANA 21 IP-024 JIM LYNCH

MARCH ANNIVERSARIES

03/02/72 IP-010 ROBERT & DIANE GRAMMER03/30/14 IP-027 ROBERT & HEATHER LOW

SUNSHINE & SHADOWS

This month we morn the passing of one of our favorite SIR’s, Merrill Mazza. Also passing this

month was a long time member, Nick Dollwet. We will miss them both.

BOB NUELL

ATTENDANCE REPORTFEBRUARY  2019

TOTAL ACTIVE MEMBERS 91

LOST MEMBERS 2

TOTAL ACTIVE MEMBERS 89

EXCUSED 27 UNEXCUSED 4

TOTAL NOT ATTENDING 31

MEMBERS ATTENDING 58

GUEST & SPEAKERS 1

% OF MEMBERS ATTENDING 65.2%

DAVE THORNTON TREASURER

January, 2019

Check

Date Number Payee Memo Category Deposits Expendit

ures Balance

Ending Bank Balance on December 31, 2018 $4,664.45

1/3/19 January Lunch $1,378.00 $6,042.45

1/7/19McInnis-52 Servings

$1,508.00 $4,534.45

1/29/19 Annual Dues $2,514.00 $7,048.45

1/31/19

Quarterly State Assessment

$138.00 $6,910.45

Totals $3,892.00 $1,646.00BANK BALANCE 1/31/19 $6,910.45

Outstanding Checks

Total Outstanding Checks:

$ -

Treasurer’s Report

Bowling Report

Walkers

"We're known as the Larkspur Walkers. Some call us the Walker Talkers. First we stretch and groan and moan, But the exercise gives us "buffed-up" tone. We step right out.We're on our way. Gotta keep moving for another day!

You'll see us on stair and trail and street.

A happier group you'll never meet. It's not just play, So what do you say, Come walk with us some sunny day.

WE ARE THE LARKSPUR WALKERS! “

judloug@aol.com

We are one week into the 3rd quarter after not doing well in the first two quarters. Hopefully, we'll get it together. Jim La Torre is the only 200 bowler with a 202,213 and 258. We bowl every Friday at Country Club Bowl September through May. The cost is $17.00 per week. How well you bowl is not a concern because it’s a 100% handicap league. If you want to participate in an indoor sport, get some exercise and enjoy some good fellowship, please give any bowler a call.

Thanks, Jack Michel Bowling Rep.

Golf Page

The New Year coming in with a roar.  cThe good news is, all  Marin Reservoirs are full!  Bad news all

courses are  saturated, but that will change in a hurry once we start to dry out. Needed the rain more than the Golf? I think so.

 Lost another good member and good friend this past week. Merrill

Mazza is now up there playing with our other departed members. R.I.P.

 We had to cancel Ranch Solano due to the course conditions, cart

path only.  We getting too old for this?  Not much else to report. Schedules are out. Next tournament 2/21.

Rooster Run. Note that this is a Thursday. Tee Bit for the month: A son goes to his Dad and asks, Dad is it true

that in some parts of the world a man doesn’t know his wife until he marries her? Dad answers, Son that happens in every part of the world.

 See you on the first tee soon I hope. Hand surgery scheduled for February 19th. Jim  

Poker Page

We had a nice game on February 11th The players were Jim Stein, Ray Bufkin, Steve Miller, Bud Pflueger, San Ellexson,, Wally Holmes and myself, Walt Torrens. The winners were Steve, Bud, Wally, and Stan . We hope to see everyone on Feb. 11th for poker. Also, if you can, please join us for a great breakfast at the 19th Hole Bar and Grill around 9 AM, We start playing poker right after breakfast which is usually 10 AM to 2 PM.

The Sirs Poker Club plays poker on the second Monday of each month, which is a lot of fun. Please take the time to join us. If you think we can improve on our games and get larger turnouts, give us your thoughts and comments? We would like to improve in the number of players, and have a fun outing and enjoy good friends and food.

There is a $50 buy in to play poker. The red chips are 50 cents, black chips dollar and the yellow chips are five dollars. There is a 3 raise maximum and it is dealer’s choice on the game they would like to play. The deck has one joker and it goes with aces, straights, and flushes. However, if you name a wild card game such as down and dirty, the joker is automatically wild unless you state at the beginning the joker is not wild.

Turning Pages

by Bud Pflueger

“The Clockmaker’s Daughter” by Kate Morton, 2018 English mystery genre

This NY Times bestselling English author has crafted an intricate, kaleidoscopic mystery woven in time over one hundred and fifty years, in one sense a classic “Gothic tale” surrounding an old countryside manor and the spirit which inhabits it .

In modern times, Elodie Winslow, an archivist for an old London firm, discovers a buried satchel containing a sepia photograph of a beautiful woman dressed in Victorian dress and a sketch book with the drawing of a twin-gabled mansion located on the upper Thames on a bend in the river, which for unknown reasons resonates in the memory of Elodie. Thus begins the story of Edward Radcliffe, a talented artist whose life becomes unraveled in the summer of 1862 when a summer adventure of friends turns into a tragedy. Later, during the blitz, a young widow, Juliet, takes refuge at Birchwood Manor with her three children in tow, one of whom will become Elodie’s mother. Other “visitors” (as Birdie Bell, the watchful house spirit refers to them) occupy the manor over time, as the reader discovers from different perspectives the lives and loves of its occupants.

This well-written novel is a must-read for any lover of English mysteries. I could not put it down and highly recommend it.

“The Kingdom of the Blind” by Louise Penny, 2018 Fiction, suspense / thriller

This most recent Inspector Armand Gamache novel is partly a sequel to “Glass Houses”, although it supplies sufficient background to stand alone, and it follows two plot lines. Inspector Gamache, former head of the Montreal Suerte, has been suspended pending an investigation into his responsibility in allowing a large supply of a very potent opioid to enter Canada. This Fentanyl compound is so deadly that it is bound to cause many deaths when it hits the streets. Gamache hopes to prevent that occurrence by locating the stash. To that end he has had expelled from the police academy his favorite student for her apparent use of drugs, so that she can be followed into the Montreal underworld.

At the beginning of the novel Gamache and Myrna, a retired psychologist and Three Pines neighbor and a stranger, Benedict, are named co-executors of the complicated estate of a recently deceased Baroness unknown to them, which leads to an investigation into a murder unrelated to the plot line described above. Meanwhile we meet all of the author’s usual suspects, his neighbors, living in the quaint , isolated village of Three Pines, characters Penny’s readers know well through her many previous novels.

Any lover of mysteries is bound to get hooked on this author, who writes with humor and empathy into the complicated lives of her characters, creating innovative and suspenseful stories. I highly recommend this author. You might want to start with her previous novel: “Glass Houses”.

Fun Page

This actually took place in Charlotte, North Carolina.A lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars; then insured them against, among other things, fire.

Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars, the lawyer filed a claim against the insurance company.In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost 'in a series of small fires.

The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason, that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion.

The lawyer sued and WON! (Stay with me.)

Delivering the ruling, the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous.The judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from the company, in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable andalso guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be unacceptable 'fire' and was obligatedto pay the claim. Rather than endure lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer forhis loss of the cigars that perished in the 'fires'.

NOW FOR THE BEST PART...After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!!

With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionallyburning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a

$24,000 fine .

This true story won First Place in last year's Criminal Lawyers Awards contest.ONLY IN AMERICA . . .NO WONDER THE REST OF THE WORLD THINKS WE'RE NUTS

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